100% Renewable

We’re promoting a bold and clear vision of a greener, healthier world, one powered solely by clean, renewable energy. We’re also taking concrete steps right now that will bring us closer to the world we want to live in. Our 100% Renewable campaign is focused on three arenas in which we can make the most immediate progress: college and university campuses, cities and states, and Congress.

100% Renewable: College & university campuses

America’s more than 5,000 universities, colleges and community colleges are big energy consumers, with large buildings, many of which are open 24/7. At the same time, college campuses are largely self-contained communities, and therefore better able to find ways to generate all the power they need from clean, renewable sources—especially given the expertise among their faculty and the enthusiasm among their students for going green.

Cornell University / Wikimedia Commons

Cornell University, Green Mountain College and Colorado State University are among the campuses that already have committed to going 100 percent renewable. Our campaign goal is to expand that number to 10 campuses by June 2018, add 25 more by June 2019, and add another 35 by June 2020.

Our organizers are working with campus communities to achieve these goals. To date, more than 350 faculty members nationwide have supported us in calling for commitments to 100 percent renewable energy—many of whom will prove to be valuable allies when we ask local and state government leaders to consider taking similar action.

Given the headwinds we're facing in Washington—and more to the point, given the administration's views on energy—now more than ever, we need our mayors and our governor to lead the way for clean energy.

Atlanta, San Diego and St. Petersburg, Fla., are among the more than 50 cities nationwide that have already committed to going 100 percent renewable. Our state and local advocates and organizers are working right now to persuade more cities in our state to join their ranks.

Boston, MA / National Environmental Energy Laboratory Photo

Outside of the Washington, D.C., bubble, we’re finding bipartisan support for action on clean energy. Our national team of researchers, advocates, members and activists have won significant progress on clean energy over the past few decades, including policies that have resulted in greater energy efficiency, more wind power and more solar power in 25 states. With Washington’s leadership missing or counterproductive, now is the time to rally our local and state leaders to think bigger and act more boldly.

100% Renewable: Congress

It’s no secret that the 115th Congress is not going to vote for America to go 100 percent renewable.

But every long journey starts with a single step. In 2017, Sens. Jeff Merkley (Ore.) and Ed Markey (Mass.) and Reps. Jared Polis (Colo.), Jared Huffman (Calif.), Raul Grijalva (Ariz.) and Pramila Jayapal (Wash.) introduced legislation that would put the U.S. on a path to 100 percent renewable energy by 2050.

By filing the bill, joining forces with members of Congress who are willing to champion it, and winning support for it from academics, scientists, environmentalists, health professionals, business owners and others, we can begin to shift the debate on the national level—in essence, making a 100 percent renewable energy economy the standard by which more Americans measure whether new energy policy proposals will move us in the right or wrong direction.

Currents of energy and hope

Robert F. Kennedy once said that each time we stand up for an ideal, we send forth a “tiny ripple of hope.”

Imagine ripples of energy emanating from each new campus or each new city or town that commits to 100 percent renewable power. Imagine these ripples converging into a great current that reaches every corner of our country and shines a beacon of hope to the rest of the world. That’s what this campaign is all about.

Act Now

All of us should do what we can in our own homes to conserve and use energy more efficiently, and promote solar and wind power. But with a problem this big, of course we need to do more.

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